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Matthew Belloni, Eriq Gardner, Julia Alexander, Kim Masters & Scott Mendelson
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Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
An essential, insider-friendly Hollywood tip sheet from Matthew Belloni, who spent 14 years in the trenches at The Hollywood Reporter and five before that practicing entertainment law. What I’m Hearing also features contributions from veteran Hollywood journalist Kim Masters, media analyst Julia Alexander, entertainment law expert Eriq Gardner, and special box office dispatches from Scott Mendelson.
THE LATEST ARTICLES
Matthew Belloni
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August 15, 2025
The Tragedy of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’
Sony Pictures really needed a big box office hit this summer. Instead, the studio sold the sensation of the season to Netflix and will earn only a tiny fraction of what will likely become a billion-dollar franchise for the streamer. How did that happen?
Matthew Belloni
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August 12, 2025
Why Ellison Doubled Down on UFC
David Ellison’s seven year, $7.7 billion deal to secure UFC rights for Paramount+ risks the streamer’s profitability in the pursuit of subscriber growth. But setting aside the debate about overpaying, this might be the statement play New Paramount needs.
Matthew Belloni
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August 8, 2025
David Day One: The Ellison Era at Paramount Begins
Touring CBS News and making nice with ’60 Minutes’, Ellison met a media firing squad and unveiled a plan to leverage the tech prowess of his father’s Oracle and others to compete with Silicon Valley. Sounds great, but how?
Matthew Belloni
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July 25, 2025
David Ellison and the Penis Politics of ‘South Park’
The would-be owner of Paramount scores the F.C.C. greenlight and survives the latest threat to the deal via Trey Parker and Matt Stone, whose outrageous (and nude) parody of Trump comes days after one of the most contentious talent negotiations I’ve covered.
Matthew Belloni
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July 18, 2025
CBS in Distress: Colbert’s Exit & The Rhodes-Weiss Era
As Paramount prepares to remake itself, David Rhodes has emerged as a likely successor at CBS News, possibly advised by Bari Weiss. And company insiders suggest that the Colbert cancellation was purely economic, but is that buyable?
Matthew Belloni
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July 11, 2025
Sam Altman Is Getting ‘Social Network’-ed
I got my hands on ‘Artificial,’ Hollywood’s new version of ‘The Social Network’ for the A.I. age. Altman and Elon Musk will probably hate their portrayals, but it’s a small miracle that Amazon, itself a player in the A.I. race, is making this $40 million movie in the first place.
Matthew Belloni, Ian Krietzberg & Eriq Gardner
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July 3, 2025
A.I.’s Independence Day Terror
A frank conversation about the real and immediate impacts of the incipient and ubiquitous technology on entertainment—Midjourney implications, job wipeouts, licensing realities, and what to expect in the next decade versus what’s science fiction.
Matthew Belloni
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June 27, 2025
HBO Just Dramatically Changed How It Pays Everyone
The prestige outlet is moving to a “bonus” system based on thresholds of “success” in different categories. It’s all dependent on HBO’s definitions of success, and not dissimilar to how other outlets calculate payouts. But it raises a troubling question: Why?
Matthew Belloni
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June 20, 2025
The Mail Room: Bond Directors, Blumhouse’s ‘Saw’ Deal & Apple’s Post-F1 Strategy
With the first half of 2025 nearly behind us, let’s open up my inbox for reader questions on everything from the 007 director bake-off and why Warner Bros. didn’t win the ‘Matrix’ auction, to Baldoni-Lively aftershocks and Tom Cruise’s honorary Oscar.
Matthew Belloni
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June 12, 2025
Is Warner Bros. Ready for Its Close-Up?
'Superman' (or any single movie) won’t move a media company’s stock price like its overall television business does. But now that David Zaslav is spinning off his linear assets, there’s about to be a lot more pressure on the film studio to perform.